• Largest cities
• Local notes
• Models & pricing
• Which model
• FAQs
• Get a quote

Largest cities we serve in Kane County, IL

Kane County had 516,522 residents at the 2020 Census, according to the Kane County Clerk’s 2025-2026 Government Guide, spread over roughly 520 square miles by the County Board’s own description, with Geneva as the county seat and Aurora as the largest city. The table below lists the twelve largest cities and villages with a substantial part of their area inside Kane County; two large villages that hold only a small parcel inside the county (Hoffman Estates and Bartlett) are left off. Populations are 2020 U.S. Census counts as reported on the Wikipedia pages for each community and for Kane County; where a municipality crosses a county line, the figure is for the whole municipality, not only the Kane County portion. Distances are miles (straight-line) from the nearest GSHA office, which for every community in the table is our Woodstock headquarters.

Installing a KOHLER generator in Kane County, IL

Natural gas: Nicor Gas and the gas-load check

Nicor Gas (Northern Illinois Gas Company) is the natural-gas utility across Kane County. Its tariff on file with the Illinois Commerce Commission lists the county’s cities and villages by name and states that service applies inside those municipal limits and in the unincorporated contiguous territory; the Village of South Elgin likewise names Nicor Gas as its provider. Nicor says it serves 2.3 million customers in more than 650 northern Illinois communities, and because the municipality sheets in that tariff date from 2005 and 2009, the address-level check is the ZIP-code lookup on Nicor’s service-area page. A standby generator is a large gas appliance: at full load a KOHLER 10RESV draws 179,000 BTU/hr, a 20RCA 281,000 BTU/hr and a 26RCA 290,000 BTU/hr. Our gas technicians add that demand to the furnace, water heater, range and dryer already on the meter, check the meter and house-line capacity, and when the existing meter cannot carry the total we coordinate a meter upgrade with Nicor, which is sometimes needed. A home without gas service can run the same five models on propane; all are field-convertible.

Electric service: ComEd, plus three city-owned utilities

ComEd’s service-territory map places Kane County inside its central region. The exceptions are Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles, which appear on the American Public Power Association’s list of Illinois public power utilities and run their own city-owned electric distribution systems. In those three cities your electric account and your outage contact is the city utility rather than ComEd; St. Charles, for example, publishes a 24-hour outage line at (866) 444-0016. Whichever utility feeds the house, the automatic transfer switch is what disconnects your home from the grid when power fails, starts the generator and reconnects once utility power is stable again. We install the KOHLER RXT switch with load management or the RDT switch, and a service-entrance-rated switch where a whole-house 200 A service calls for it.

Permits: unincorporated Kane County versus the cities and villages

Homes in unincorporated Kane County, and in the villages of Virgil, Kaneville and Big Rock, get their building permits from the Kane County Development and Community Services Department, Building & Zoning Division, at the Kane County Government Center, 719 S. Batavia Avenue, Building A, 4th Floor, Geneva, IL 60134 (building permits 630-232-3485, buildingpermits@kanecountyil.gov). The county’s 2026 Building Permit Application lists Generator as a specific type of work alongside Electric Service and EV Charging System, so a standby generator is a recognized permit item. Applications and documents go through the county’s online CityView web portal or by email, and permit fees are paid through the portal. Work is reviewed under the codes the county adopted effective January 1, 2022, including the 2021 International Residential Code and the 2020 National Electric Code. The county division does not permit work inside the other incorporated cities and villages; there, we pull the permit from that municipality’s building department instead. Either way, GSHA pulls the electrical and gas permits, schedules the inspections, and most installations take one to two days on site once the permit is issued.

Wells, septic systems and floodplain lots

Kane County’s water supply comes from groundwater aquifers and the Fox River, and the Conserve Water for Kane program notes that residents and businesses outside the incorporated areas rely on private wells; the Illinois State Water Survey describes groundwater as the primary water source for the county’s communities and homeowners. A well pump runs on electricity, so a home on a well loses water pressure during an outage unless the pump is on backup power. That changes the sizing conversation: a well pump is a motor load, and it is one of the essentials the 10RESV is sized for and one of the loads the 26RCA is built to carry alongside two air conditioners. Septic systems in the county are permitted by the Kane County Health Department, and on a septic lot the location of the tank and drain field is one of the things we confirm on the site visit before choosing where the generator pad and gas trench go. Kane County is also the local repository for FEMA floodplain maps, links guidance on the 50% rule for substantial improvement or substantial damage, and enforces the Kane County Stormwater Management Ordinance through its Environmental and Water Resources office; if your lot is in a mapped floodplain, confirm pad placement and elevation with the county before installation, and tell us at the estimate so it is accounted for in the permit package.

Recent storms and outages in Kane County

Kane County’s own emergency-management updates give a sense of what a standby generator is for here. The storms of August 16 to 18, 2025 brought heavy rain, widespread tree damage and flooding, with the National Weather Service reporting that wind gusts likely exceeded 70 mph in the hardest-hit areas, a swath of 60 to 70 mph winds from Algonquin to St. John, Indiana, a tornado warning for the northern portion of the county on August 18, and 5.66 inches of rain in Sugar Grove and 4.94 inches in Montgomery in the 24 hours from August 16 to 17. The July 2 to 4, 2026 storms produced widespread flooding, road closures, and downed trees and power lines throughout the county, with more than 8 inches of rain in the Sugar Grove and Aurora Municipal Airport area and more than 5 inches in Batavia; the county’s Office of Emergency Management asked residents to document uninsured damage for possible state or federal assistance, and its 2024 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan states that the county is subject to natural hazards that “have caused extensive property damage.” For a generator, that history means two practical things: every KOHLER model we install is rated for 181 mph winds, and if your basement relies on a sump pump, that pump belongs on the essentials list even for the smallest unit. KOHLER also recommends its cold-weather kit for operation below 32 F.

KOHLER models and installed pricing

About “installed from” prices. Every KOHLER generator is a custom installation. The “installed from” price is our starting package for that model (generator, standard automatic transfer switch, standard gas and electrical connections, permit handling and start-up). Your final price depends on generator placement, gas line size and length, electrical panel condition and local permit fees, so we confirm it with a free on-site estimate before any work begins. KOHLER’s published MSRP for the generator alone runs from $3,946 (10RESV) to $7,546 (26RCA).

Which KOHLER model fits homes in Kane County

Which KOHLER model fits a Kane County home

The right size depends less on the town you live in than on what you want running when ComEd or the city utility goes down: the essentials only, the whole house with one central air conditioner, or a large house with two air conditioners, a well pump and an electric-vehicle charger. Two Kane County specifics shape the choice. Homes outside the incorporated areas generally draw water from private wells, and a well pump is a motor load that needs starting capacity. And Nicor natural gas is available across the county, so every model below runs on natural gas with no fuel to store; all five are field-convertible to propane if your home is not on gas. All five share the RDC2 controller with the KOHLER Energy Management app, a 5-year/2,000-hour limited warranty covering parts, labor and travel (7- and 10-year extended coverage is available), and can be installed 18 inches from the house under NFPA guidelines, subject to local code.

• KOHLER 10RESV, 10 kW (9 kW on natural gas), installed from $8,000: essentials such as furnace, refrigerator, sump pump, well pump and lights; its 30.6 by 28 inch steel enclosure suits tight side yards.
• KOHLER 12RESV, 12 kW (11 kW on natural gas), installed from $8,500: essential circuits plus one air conditioner with load management, in the same compact footprint for narrow lots.
• KOHLER 14RCA, 14 kW (12 kW on natural gas), installed from $9,000: entry whole-house coverage for small and mid-size homes; KOHLER rates it to start and run a 5-ton air conditioner.
• KOHLER 20RCA, 20 kW (18 kW on natural gas), installed from $10,500: whole-house backup for most 2,500 to 4,500 square foot homes with one central air conditioner, with 41 kVA of motor-starting capacity.
• KOHLER 26RCA, 26 kW (24 kW on natural gas), installed from $12,000: the largest air-cooled KOHLER, for large homes running two air conditioners with load management, a well pump, an electric range and an EV charger.

Not sure where your house lands? Read why we install KOHLER, or book a free on-site estimate and we will size the unit from your panel, your gas meter and your must-run list. After installation, our KOHLER service and maintenance team covers Kane County from the same Woodstock office; see the full KOHLER service area for neighboring counties.

Kane County KOHLER FAQs

My electric bill comes from the City of Batavia, Geneva or St. Charles, not ComEd. Does that change the generator install?

Not the installation itself. The automatic transfer switch works the same way on a city-owned system as on ComEd: it disconnects the house from the utility when power fails, starts the generator and reconnects once utility power is stable. What changes is who you deal with. In those three cities the electric distribution system is city-owned (all three appear on the American Public Power Association’s Illinois list), so your electric account and your outage contact is the city utility, and St. Charles publishes a 24-hour outage line at (866) 444-0016. Because all three are incorporated cities, the Kane County Building & Zoning Division is not the permit authority; we pull the permit from the city’s building department as part of the job.

Do I need a permit for a standby generator in unincorporated Kane County?

Yes. Building permits for unincorporated Kane County, and for the villages of Virgil, Kaneville and Big Rock, are issued by the Kane County Development and Community Services Department’s Building & Zoning Division in Geneva, and the county’s 2026 permit application lists Generator as a specific type of work. GSHA pulls the permit through the county’s online portal and schedules the inspections under the 2021 International Residential Code and 2020 National Electric Code the county adopted effective January 1, 2022.

Which gas and electric utilities do you coordinate with in Kane County?

Natural gas across the county is Nicor Gas, which is who we work with when the existing meter cannot carry the generator’s added load and needs an upgrade. Electric service is ComEd, except inside Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles, which run their own municipal electric utilities, so your electric account there is with the city.

Is Montgomery inside your service area?

Yes. Montgomery is about 40.7 miles (straight-line) from our Woodstock office, the farthest of the county’s larger communities and still inside our standard 50-mile radius, so it is quoted the same way as the rest of Kane County with a free on-site estimate. Every Kane County community listed on this page is within about 41 miles of Woodstock.

What can push a Kane County install above the installed-from price?

The installed-from price (from $8,000 for the 10 kW 10RESV, which delivers 9 kW on natural gas, and from $12,000 for the 26 kW 26RCA, 24 kW on natural gas) covers the generator, a standard automatic transfer switch, standard gas and electrical connections, permits and start-up. Four things commonly add to it in Kane County: a long gas run from the meter to the pad; a Nicor meter upgrade when the existing meter cannot carry the generator’s added load, which is 179,000 BTU/hr for the 10RESV and 290,000 BTU/hr for the 26RCA at full output; a service-entrance-rated transfer switch for a whole-house 200 A service; and, on a lot in a mapped floodplain, pad placement and elevation that has to be confirmed with the county. All of it is priced at the free on-site estimate. If you want an equipment-only reference, KOHLER’s generator-only MSRP runs from $3,946 for the 10RESV to $7,546 for the 26RCA.

Other county pages: McHenry County · Boone County · DuPage County · Will County · Cook County · Lake County · full KOHLER service area

More: how installation works and what is included · service and maintenance · transfer switches and accessories · why KOHLER

Sources: Kane County, Illinois (Wikipedia): county seat, largest city, 2020 municipality populations · Aurora, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · Elgin, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · St. Charles, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · Algonquin, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population, county split · Huntley, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · Batavia, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · Montgomery, Illinois (Wikipedia): 2020 Census population · Hoffman Estates, Illinois (Wikipedia): mostly Cook County, very small portion in Kane (omitted from table) · Bartlett, Illinois (Wikipedia): primarily Cook and DuPage counties, small parcel in Kane (omitted from table) · Kane County Clerk, 2025-2026 Government Guide (county population 516,522) · Kane County Board mission page (approximately 520 square miles) · Nicor Gas tariff, Ill.C.C. No. 16 (municipalities and unincorporated contiguous territory) · Nicor Gas, About Us (2.3 million customers, 650+ communities) · Nicor Gas service-area ZIP-code lookup · Village of South Elgin, Area Utilities (Nicor Gas, ComEd) · ComEd service territory map (Illinois 1 Call) · American Public Power Association, Public Power in Illinois (Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles) · City of Geneva, About the Electric System (city-owned distribution system) · City of St. Charles, Electric Utility (24-hour outage line) · Kane County Building & Zoning Division (permits, adopted codes, contact, fees via portal) · Kane County Development and Community Services Department (unincorporated areas, Virgil, Kaneville, Big Rock) · Kane County 2026 Building Permit Application (Generator checkbox, portal, codes) · Kane County Chronicle: county adopts 2021 ICC codes and 2020 NEC effective Jan. 1, 2022 · Conserve Water for Kane: groundwater, Fox River, private wells outside incorporated areas · Illinois State Water Survey, Kane County groundwater · Kane County Health Department, Septic/Sewage permits · Kane County Connects: August 16-18, 2025 storms and NWS summary · Kane County Connects: July 2-4, 2026 storms and OEM damage survey · Kane County OEM: 2024 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan · Kane County floodplain page (FEMA map repository, 50% rule guidance) · Kane County stormwater page (Stormwater Management Ordinance). Distances are approximate miles from the nearest GSHA office.

About GSHA Services, LTD

GSHA Services, LTD is a licensed and insured electrical, heating, cooling, plumbing and generator contractor and an authorized KOHLER generator dealer (listed on KOHLER’s dealer site). Offices: 1257 Cobblestone Way, Suite A, Woodstock, IL 60098 and 11 N Skokie Hwy, Suite G18A, Lake Bluff, IL 60044. Phone (224) 220-3660. Email info@gshaservices.com. We sell, install, service and repair KOHLER home standby generators across the northern Chicago suburbs and southeastern Wisconsin. Contact us · All service areas · Financing

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